The Consequences of Truth
by Collegekid2006
Summary: *SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3 PREMIER* Henry and Shawn must deal with Madeline's confession
1. Chapter 1

Shawn was sitting on the porch, waiting for him as Henry pulled into the driveway.

For a moment, he considered backing out and just driving away.

He didn't know what his son wanted, and he wasn't eager to find out.

He'd known something was up when Shawn had practically run out of the station earlier that night without so much as a word, and Madeline had been oddly quiet all through dinner…

Whatever the hell was going on, Henry wished it could wait until tomorrow.

_Why can't it wait until tomorrow…?_

Finally, he sighed and got out of the truck, knowing it was pointless to avoid his son.

Shawn looked up as he walked up the path to the door, his face set in a stone cold mask.

"What are you doing here?" Henry asked, stopping a few paces away, his heart already pounding in anticipation.

For a moment, Shawn didn't answer. He just stared at his father, silently burrowing holes into his head with his eyes.

"Who left?" He demanded finally, his voice so quiet it was almost swallowed up by the gently wafting breeze before reaching Henry's ear.

Henry's heart stopped.

Of all the possible questions Shawn could have asked him, he hadn't been expecting this one.

"What?"

"You heard me." Shawn said a little louder this time, standing up. "Who left?"

"Shawn--"

But Shawn cut him off before he could get his thought out, nearly exploding in frustrated anger.

"Damn it, Dad! Just tell me!"

Henry blinked at his son's outburst and looked down at his feet, in that moment unable to meet Shawn's eyes.

"It doesn't matter who left, Shawn."

"The hell it doesn't!" Shawn shouted furiously, his eyes smoldering. "You told me--"

Henry looked back up sharply, his jaw setting into the same stone cold expression Shawn was wearing.

"I told you what?" He demanded quietly.

"You told me it was you! You told me you left her, and that's why she moved away."

"No, I didn't."

"You lied!"

"I didn't lie, Shawn."

"What the hell's the matter with you?" Shawn shouted, absolutely dumbfounded by his father's stubborn refusal to admit to anything. "Were you _trying _to send me crawling to therapy? Was that you goal? To see how screwed up you could get me? Because if it was, you did a bang-up job!"

Henry's eyes flashed. He took a step towards his son, inhaling deeply before responding.

"You want the truth, Kid?" He growled.

"Yes!"

"The truth is you were seventeen years old!" Henry snapped. "The truth is you didn't need to be dragged into the middle of it. It wasn't your fault, it had nothing to do with you."

"I know it wasn't my fault!"

"Shawn…" Henry sighed wearily, wishing to the depths of his soul that this could have waited until tomorrow…until he had the answers Shawn was looking for. "You loved her. You've always loved her. She's you mother. What the hell do you think it would have done to you if you found out she just picked up and moved? That it was her choice? You didn't need to deal with that, Kid. You needed one parent you didn't hate…one parent you didn't blame."

"So you _lied_ to me for fifteen years about what happened?"

"I didn't lie!" Henry insisted, sitting down on the step himself.

"Dad--"

"I didn't lie." He said again, his voice more firm this time, though his eyes were distant...almost mournful… "I didn't lie, Kid. It was my fault."

Shawn blinked, slowly sitting down next to his father on the step.

"What?"

Henry sighed, running his hand over the back of his neck.

For a full minute, he didn't answer.

What was he supposed to say?

"It was my fault, Shawn. She wasn't happy. It didn't matter what the hell I did…couple's therapy…cutting back at work…I just couldn't make her happy anymore. And it wasn't her fault. It was mine. It had to be my fault, because it didn't matter what the hell I did with you, either. Somewhere along the way, I just…lost touch. I just couldn't be who my family needed me to be. That's why she left, Shawn. And that's why I didn't tell you. Because it was my fault, and you didn't need to blame your mother for my goddamn failures."

He stood up without looking at his son and opened the door.

He paused, not quite able to bring himself to go inside.

Somehow, he just couldn't leave it there…

"I thought she was coming back." He said quietly.

Shawn looked up at him.

"You did?"

Henry turned back around, nodding stiffly.  
"I tried, Kid…I did everything I could. I thought she'd come back eventually, that she just needed a break…until her lawyer sent me the papers. It took me two months to finally sign them…"

"You never told me that."

Henry smiled palely.

"There's a lot I never told you, Kid."

"I know."

Shawn stood up, looking his father in the eyes.

"You could have told me."

Henry shrugged.

"I didn't want you to blame her." He mumbled.

"I don't."

"Good."

Shawn stepped back off the step into the wet grass.

"I don't blame you, either."


	2. Chapter 2

_This chapter deals with Henry and Mad's discussion of her revelation to Shawn._

_It takes place during MURDER...ANYONE...? in the car in the auto shop, before Shawn comes in...just in case you don't get that._

Henry slowly ran his fingers over the steering wheel of the car, as if trying to absorb its very energy.

"I spent every day of my life here, Mad," he murmured, his eyes growing distant as the long-forgotten memories suddenly washed over him again.

He stared out the windshield, taking in the dark room around them. Surely, the auto shop had changed since Henry had been in high school…and yet, to see his face now you would never know how different it was.

In that moment, in his mind, nothing had changed.

"I know," Madeline smiled gently, settling back into the passenger's seat of the old, beat-up car, watching his face.

She had forgotten how much fun it was to watch Henry's face; to read through the gruff exterior and see the underlying moods and emotions no one else saw.

Even after fifteen years, she could still read him like a book.

He looked back at her, blinking as he brought himself back to the present. "I spent more time here than at home."

"I believe it," she laughed. "You spent more time in the garage when we were married than in the house. You were always tinkering with something or other. Especially once…"

She stopped herself from finishing the thought, but she didn't have to finish it.

They both remembered those last years.

The stony silences…

The excuses to not be home…

The existing in the same space, but living miles apart.

Henry shrugged, looking at the steering wheels as his fingers continued to run over it. "I can fix anything in here, Mad," he said quietly. "I can fix anything…but that was something I couldn't fix. I just didn't know how to fix it."

"You couldn't." she told him, watching his hands moving over the steering wheel. "But I couldn't, either. It was a two-way street, Henry."

He nodded stiffly, dropping his hands by his sides. "I know."

The car suddenly seemed confined as the overwhelming silence engulfed them.

"Shawn told me you told him," Henry offered after an eternal minute, finally meeting her eyes again.

She blinked in surprise, nodding slowly. "Yeah. I did. Henry, I never meant for him to blame you."

"I know."

"I never--"

"Mad," he cut her off sharply, not wanting any further explanations. "I know."

"I couldn't let him go the rest of his life thinking you were…"

She stopped herself once again, this time not even knowing how she was going to end that sentence.

"Shawn'll think whatever he wants," Henry mumbled, shrugging impassively. "He always has."

Madeline laughed, rolling her eyes. "I know."

"I could have told him if I wanted to."

"I know."

"I could have blamed you if I wanted to."

Madeline looked up at him, her eyes flashing with something like anger mingled with sympathy. "What?"

"I could have blamed you," Henry repeated, meeting her gaze steadily. "If I wanted to. But I didn't."

She smiled gently, her hand grazing past his. "I don't blame you, either, Henry. I never did…it wasn't your fault. It was…us. We just didn't work anymore."

Her touch lingered on his hand for a moment before she finally pulled it away.

Henry opened his mouth to say something, but before he did Madeline opened the car door and stepped out.

"I have to find a bathroom," she said quietly

"Right."

She leaned back in the window. "You can fix anything in here, Henry…but not out there. Out there, there are things that not even you can control."

He nodded. "Yeah."

She hesitated before straightening up and walking away, almost as if she had something else to say.

In the end, there just weren't any more words.

She left the auto shop, letting the heavy wooden door close behind her.

Henry sighed, leaning his head back, staring up at the ceiling.

For some reason, he never wanted to leave that auto shop.

It was the one place on earth where he knew he could fix anything.


End file.
